


Only Through the Maple Woods

by Fishsoop



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Minor Original Character(s), Not Beta Read, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), i dont know how to tag blease god help me this is unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishsoop/pseuds/Fishsoop
Summary: And through the darkest of his dreams, Xisuma gets to know his clone.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Only Through the Maple Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Hi i know NOthing about evil x but ha ha take this as an au please god   
> I aint a writer and I dont even watch Xisuma. I just think his mc skins neat, h  
> Though I have a second chapter in the works, it's very likely this isn't going to be updated. haha tell me if you want this to be continued though!

The nightmare is a familiar one, though he hasn’t had it in a month or two.

Xisuma is sixteen again, and he’s fighting against the currents of the largest river he knows of in his father’s portion of the Deep Void. 

He’s fighting, and he’s losing. 

So badly. 

He’s fighting for air, for purchase  _ he doesn’t know how to swim _ , and he’s fighting to ignore the fact that it was his own father who threw him into the gorge. Into the dark river. 

For being weak. 

He’s sorry. He can’t even win against some water. 

A strong current drags him down _ he can’t breathe _ , and sharp river rocks at the bottom of the water gouge deep scratches into his heavy Voidwatcher cloak; he wonders, on some oxygen-deprived, insane level, why he did not leave it at home if he knew he was going to be drowning today.

Yes, perhaps he should have known, and run when he had the chance.

He’s jolted against a wall, and it shocks him awake, dragging himself to the surface to gulp air in. The river is shallower now, and he can almost touch the air with his fingertips if he stands on the bottom. The current is as strong as ever.

He looks across the river, and he cannot see the other side of the gorge.

(It’s concealed by the Void fog, which hides all that rests past a good few meters of your vision. It has never been something scary for Xisuma before.)

(It also only kicks in when you go Too Far Below, and Xisuma is terrified, because how far downstream has he gone?)

Coughing up water, he tries to get his bearings; the trees above look familiar _ he is so cold _ and if the river’s low enough to have Void Fog… 

He must be really near the Breaking Down. 

Where the main island ends. 

Where the river turns into a waterfall that falls into nothing.

Just the Deepest Void.

Noone has ever returned. He would know.

Suddenly, though Xisuma’s head is above water, he cannot breathe. His vision goes hazy, and he thrashes in the water, panicked, like a cat who’s been thrown into a bathtub.

The water pulls him under, to toy with him, he thinks, and when he resurfaces again he’s screaming. 

“ _ MOM _ !” he yells, because he doesn’t think anyone else could help him now, “ _ Mom, please! _ ”

He sees the edge. He prays. 

_ “MOTHER!”  _

When he falls, he’s not surprised, because his mother had done it first. 

His father was not a creative man.

And his eyes close on that thought, the air becoming too thin for even his Voidwatcher lungs.

He sleeps.

-

Xisuma opens his eyes blearily, expecting to see the prismarine inside of his base; instead, he’s met with the blurry image of a white-haired figure making it’s way towards him. 

_ Oh _ , he thinks,  _ another dream _ , although this one is new. 

Xisani had always been a pretty, gentle woman, and even in his dreams Xisuma could remember his mother’s features as clearly as the day she left.

Her clear indigo eyes, her long, curled white hair, the criss-cross scar on her fac-

_ That’s not Xisani. _

X wakes,  _ truly _ wakes, with a start, and stares at the void sky straight ahead of him.

He’s sopping wet. 

He’s missing his helmet. 

And he’s- he dares a glance upward, meets an unimpressed eyebrow raise- 

He’s being dragged from some lake by  _ Evil X.  _

If he wasn’t so shocked- from the cold water he thinks, maybe, because even though he’s awake(?) he still feels like he’s been batted around in the Dark River like in his nightmare- 

If he wasn’t so shocked, he thinks he’d laugh. And maybe struggle to get away.

-

After what feels like an eon but must only be half a minute, Ex stops, and lets X’s upper half flop to the ground. There must be a fire nearby, he thinks, because he can hear the crackling of one, and feel some warmth. He lays there, basking in the glow of it.

Just when he’s about to doze off, Ex be damned, he’s  _ tired _ and  _ aches _ , his clone speaks. 

“Took you long enough.” 

His voice is rusty, and it sputters like an engine left out to rot. He must not have had anyone to talk to for a while. 

Xisuma makes to get up, and he feels a pair of hands help him stumble to a log right next to the fire. He looks up, and stares into his evil clone’s face.

He must be dying or something, because he lets out a mad giggle- why did the universe see fit to change his hair color? Did it not like it or something? 

Ex scowls, eyebrows tightening into a frown, and he almost looks  _ worried _ . 

“ _ What _ ? What, did you- did you hit your head or something in that Watcher-damned river?”

Xisuma opens his mouth to reply, but all that comes out it a guttural cough and suddenly, there’s rank river water all over the log next to him and he’s just coughing up  _ more. _

He feels someone thumping his back- harder than necessary, _ thanks _ , Ex, and wipes his mouth with the back of his (ungloved??) hand, choosing to ignore the bit of sea grass that was hanging out of his mouth for his pride’s sake.

He straightens his back, looks at Ex, who has now settled back onto his own log with a disturbed expression on his face. 

“Anyway,” Xisuma starts, now that he can speak. 

“What are you doing here?” 

Ex almost looks offended. 

“No, what are  _ you _ doing here?” He retorts. 

Xisuma has an equally childish comeback on his tongue, but Ex barrels on. 

“I’ve been here for- for ages! I’ve set up a camp, for goodness’s sake!

And you’re- you- “ He gestures angrily at Xisuma. 

Xisuma closes his mouth with an audible  _ click _ , frowns, and really looks around at the place he’s in.

He would call it beautiful, if ‘dark and gloomy and mysterious’ was his asthetic. Fortunately it’s not, and he can confidently say that the dark, gloomy, mysterious maple forest he’s in is just kind of humid. And gross. 

The trees are dark, and the leaves are blood red. The forest floor is covered by a thick layer of them. It’s impossible to see more than three meters into the woods; anything beyond that is covered in a thick Void Fog. He shudders at the thought of how low into the void he must be. The fireplace is situated in a clearing, and a couple paces away is a large pond. Xisuma decides to call it the Dark Lake. For dramatic effect. 

It’s impossibly dark, like someone spilled tons of ink into it. If X walked up to it, he’s sure he could use the surface as a pefect mirror. Further away is a large waterfall, which X can only assume is the same waterfall the Dark River becomes. He can hear crickets, and an owl somewhere. The entire place reeks of rot. 

He doesn’t want to be here, like, at all. 

Turning to Ex, he chuckles nervously, voice hoarse with surprise and the little drowning thing he did.

“Hey, uh… what’s up?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you read the whole thing, thank you! It means a lot!  
> If you want this to be a thing, maybe shoot me a comment uwu  
> My tumblr is @gldnapplzz ! Askbox is always open :)


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